Water activities are popular with children of all ages. Not only do swimming and diving enjoy a large following, but many children also find amusement by throwing water at targets. A well-known method of dousing a target with water is to throw a water-filled balloon at the target. However, such balloons are destroyed on impact with the target, and the small balloon pieces are unsafe when used around small children. Accordingly, there is a need to replace the water balloon with a reusable water-retaining projectile that would be safe to use around small children.
To be a satisfactory alternative to the water balloon, a reusable water-containing projectile must retain an appreciable amount of water until impact with a target, yet be designed so that a person would not be injured if accidentally impacted by the projectile. The projectile should be robust enough to be repeatedly used. Furthermore, the projectile should be inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use, with as few moving parts as possible.
Previous toy designs have included hollow balls designed to surround a flexible membrane, such as a water balloon. The membrane is ruptured when the ball impacts a target or when a predetermined time has elapsed. These designs require a water balloon for proper use and are not true replacements for water balloons. Another ball design includes two flexible plastic hemispheres. The hemispheres are filled with water and held together by vacuum pressure that is created when air is squeezed from the hemispheres. Although this design does not require a water balloon, it is significantly more expensive than a water balloon, and the two hemispheres separate easily and can become lost. In addition, in order to work, the hemispheres must be thick, so if the ball hits a person, it may hurt the person because of the ball's substantial mass.